Paul Hastings has hired former Deloitte life sciences consultant BJ D'Avella to lead its newly formed Life Sciences Consulting Group, the firm said Tuesday. D'Avella will look to grow the group in hopes that it will combine with the firm's existing attorney base to make the firm a singular point of contact for its life sciences clients. D'Avella's first day was June 11.

"The landscape is changing, and we are constantly thinking about innovative ways we can help our clients," Gary Giampetruzzi, global chair of the life sciences practice at Paul Hastings, said in a statement. "BJ's arrival, and the formation of this consulting team, continues Paul Hastings' long track record of offering clients creative, value-added services. With the establishment of this team we will be able to help our life sciences clients with the full range of their legal, compliance, and execution needs."

In an interview, D'Avella said that while he was happy at Deloitte, as the courtship process unfolded with Paul Hastings he realized there was a unique opportunity to do something that is still relatively novel in the legal space, allowing clients to access legal and consulting expertise under the same roof as they encounter opportunities and challenges.  

"They approached me with this through my personal network," D'Avella said. "Paul Hastings has been doing well even through the craziness we have all been experiencing, adding talent in litigation, white-collar and others. The firm is on strong footing."

According to his firm biography, D'Avella has assisted global life science companies with program delivery related to compliance and regulatory risks for close to 20 years. The firm said he has deep expertise in risk management activities related to patient services, sales and marketing, medical affairs and clinical operations.

D'Avella, who is not an attorney by trade and has not previously worked in a law firm environment, does have some personal context with which to appreciate the legal industry. His father, Bud D'Avella, was the former managing partner at Hannoch Weisman for 11 years. 

"I was raised by an attorney who managed a major law firm," D'Avella said. "I'm not an attorney, but I have some sense of how a firm operates."

D'Avella said that he will report directly to the firm's managing partner, Greg Nitzkowski, and chair, Seth Zachary. 

The billing for the newly formed group, D'Avella said, will follow that of a traditional law firm structure, with rates set based on the level of personnel involved in any given engagement. D'Avella will not be considered an equity partner in the firm. 

D'Avella said he wasn't aware whether the firm intends to start consulting practices for other practice groups. That said, life science is a hot practice area now and will serve as a bellwether for the firm. 

"We are focused now on proving the model in this area," D'Avella said. "Certainly, with any business, there are longer-range growth expectations. For now, we are looking to plant a flag of success and prove out the model and how it is going to work before we expand to other potential service areas."

Paul Hastings isn't the first law firm to create a complementary consulting practice to augment its legal acumen, but D'Avella said he wasn't aware of similar commitments from other firms of Paul Hastings' size, and thus he sees some market openings that could position the firm well for growth. 

"Law firms for a long time have hired consultants in ones and twos to supplement in certain areas," D'Avella said. "But to make the commitment to build and grow a consulting group as its own entity, going to market arm in arm with legal practitioners, there's a lot of blue water."